I got a burn notice but I don’t feel burned

I encountered my first challenge with my new cable-less, satellite-less, antenna only television setup. Burn Notice, a show that airs on the USA Network, kicked off its second season. The challenge was that I got hooked on the first season of Burn Notice but no longer received the USA Network. Worse yet, by the time I realized the second season had started, three new episodes of Burn Notice had already aired.

I panicked for a moment but then realized I had the Amazon Unbox service in my back pocket (not literally). I jumped over to the Amazon Unbox web site and did a quick search for Burn Notice. Sure enough, Amazon Unbox showed that three episodes were available for purchase and/or download.

Every episode without lifting a finger

Rather than purchasing three separate episodes of Burn Notice via Amazon Unbox I decided to instead go with the TV Pass. The TV Pass ensures that I will get every episode of Burn Notice all season long without having to lift a finger. And, although I’m not going to retire on the savings, buying a TV Pass instead of individual episodes saved me $0.10 per episode ($1.89 per episode with TV Pass vs. $1.99 per episode individually).

There is one trick to purchasing a TV Pass though. You have to have Amazon.com’s 1-click settings enabled. This is because with a TV Pass you don’t get charged for the full season upfront. You still get charged per episode (at the discounted rate) as each episode becomes available. And because you don’t have physically purchase each episode when it becomes available, Amazon.com relies on your 1-click settings for each subsequent charge. I actually think this is an advantage over paying upfront just because if something goes wrong with the process at least you haven’t paid for any episodes you haven’t received.

Watch on your television not your computer

Once I completed purchasing the TV Pass the rest was pure magic. A few hours later, I turned on my television and discovered that all three episodes I had missed were already waiting on my TiVo Now Playing List. That’s a real selling point for me. I was able to purchase the show on my computer but it downloaded straight to my TiVo. I’ll take watching a show on my television over my computer any day.

There was only one thing left to check. When the 4th episode became available would the TV Pass, 1-click, automatic download really take care of everything for me? Absolutely. I’m happy to say it worked like a charm. In fact, I might even go as far as to say that this process is better than recording it yourself. The only downside is having to pay for it. But the upside is not having to remember to record the show or worrying about bad reception. And did I mention that the downloaded shows have no commercials?

So onward I march still happy with my antenna-only, TiVo solution. But wait, did someone say the NFL season was about to kick off? Uh-oh.